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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Why Tri?: A New Series

I've been pondering this question ever since I first posted on it: why tri? Why do we subject our bodies to such extreme conditions? Why do we ride/run/swim for hours at a time? Why do we scrutinize our eating and sleeping habits?

Hala Bissada gets at one possible reason in this interview (beginning around 1:50)"After finishing my first race, practically being the last one across the finish line, there was a sense of pride and accomplishment . . . I thought I was gonna be all emotional and crying when I crossed the finish line . . . it was an awesome experience . . . It really helped me with my self-esteem, like I said, the sense of accomplishment--a sense of looking physically fit and feeling good about myself, from that perspective . . ."

I'm not quite ready to post an extended piece on my personal reasons for pursuing triathlon, but Hala Bissada gets at a lot of it.